Australian telco Optus under fire after 3 deaths

An Australian telecom firm is being accused of withholding critical information a day after it said three people lost their lives during an emergency call system failure, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported.

Peter Malinauskas, the premier of South Australia, said it "beggars belief" that Optus only shared information about the deaths at a press conference.

Optus CEO Stephen Rue said that during the tech failure on Thursday, hundreds of emergency calls failed, affecting customers in the states of South Australia and Western Australia and in the Northern Territory.

"The lack of information flow" from Optus to the appropriate authorities "raises a lot of questions," Malinauskas said, adding that after the news conference, authorities had to seek details about the deaths to respond accurately.

Optus gave South Australian police the names of the suburbs where those two deaths took place but not the names, addresses, or phone numbers of the deceased, he said.

The circumstances of the deaths remain unclear, he added.

South Australia police on Friday determined that an 8-week-old baby and a 68-year-old woman were the two people whose deaths Optus acknowledged.

The Western Australian government said Saturday that the third person who died was a 74-year-old man.

Anika Wells, the country's communications minister, also said she was working to ensure a "full and thorough independent investigation."

"Optus and all telecommunications providers have obligations under Australian law to ensure that they enable emergency services calls," she said.